Special events to celebrate International Museum Day 2012

The International Council of Museums Malta is inviting the general public, to participate in the International Museum Day events which will officially be held around the 18th of May 2012.

This is an annual international event, during which thousands of museums celebrate and raise awareness regarding a particular theme, this year entitled, “Museums in a Changing World: New Challenges, New Inspirations.”

International Museum Day was created by ICOM in 1977, to highlight the role of museums in the development of society, and its momentum has been rising unabated ever since. More than 20,000 museums in 90 countries from Australia to Zimbabwe participate every year. Although locally, this event is still at its infancy, the ICOM-Malta team is working hard to involve as many private, state and church-run museums as possible.

This year’s theme invites museums and their visitors to wonder about the role of museums in our society, in an era facing numerous changes. International Museum Day 2012 is as much about museums growing and shaping their future, as it is about displaying and interpreting new issues like climate change, new media or social responsibility.

This May, museums internationally will host contests, workshops, conferences and performances. Some will remain open late, and devise new virtual or real tours where itineraries lead to and from museums and local sights.

As opposed to the standard tour, museum itineraries today, are embracing awareness-raising, educational, thematic, historical or chronological tours, adding a certain spice and passion to their collections and expertise.

Inspired by World Heritage tours and high-end museum travel, the aim is to create a deeper mutual understanding of history, through heritage experienced together.

ICOM-Malta is organising various events which will be held through the month of May, in various different locations.

The programme of events includes the following:

On Friday 18th May, Admission to the Pomskizillious Museum of Toys in Xaghra Gozo will be reduced to half price.

Admission to St Agatha’s complex in Rabat is being reduced to 3euro from Friday to Sunday.

St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta will be open free of charge on Saturday 19th between 13.00 and 16.00.

A tour of Fort St Angelo is being organised by Heritage Malta on Sunday 20th.

On Sunday 27th admission to the Limstone Heritage will be free of charge, to celebrate their tenth anniversary.

On Friday 1st June, Palazzo Falson Historic House Museum in Mdina is organizing a free event including a talk by artist Vince Briffa and jazz by CUSP.

The first event on the occasion of IMD, was organized on Wednesday 16th May, by ICOM-Malta in collaboration with Heritage Malta and the Section of Y.O.U.R.S. Young inmates from the Correctional Facility of Kordin visited the Conservation-Restoration Centre at Heritage Malta in Bighi, as well as the Malta Maritime Museum in Birgu.

This event was set up to provide these inmates with a cultural experience which would inspire their artistic and academic talents, through on-site visits. in keeping with this year’s theme, ICOM-Malta believes that this challenge will help inspire this group of young people, that our cultural heritage is available for everyone to enjoy and draw inspiration from.

This event was supported by the Minister for Tourism, Culture and the Environment, Dr Mario DeMarco and Minister for Home Affairs and Local Government Carmel Mifsud Bonnici.

ICOM is the International Council of Museums and museum professionals which are committed to the conservation, continuation and communication to society, of the world’s natural and cultural heritage; present and future, tangible and intangible. Created in 1946, ICOM is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) maintaining formal relations with UNESCO and having a consultative status with the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council.